Film Noir's Take on Femme Fatale in "Detour"

Typically, the female character in films who fills the stereotype of "femme fatale" serve to obstruct the protagonist from achieving his goal. She possesses a power role in which she strategically manipulates the protagonist and exploits his weaknesses. Her mysterious and seductive qualities make her a "siren" of cinema. Within Detour, Vera is the femme fatale character and certainly has all of those specific traits. But because Detour is a film noir, there is a twist to Vera's stereotype. The difference being that women with that manipulative power are considered to be attractive within the film noir style. She will be a tall slender women much like the dark city skylines that characterize most film noir. It is clear that Detour applies this twist on femme fatale because even though Al tries to resist Vera, he always ended up falling for her manipulative snares. She seduced Al until it was too late for him.